R.I.P. Brothers

The U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) announced Sunday the death of two Navy SEALs who went missing off the coast of Somalia, according to a press release.

News broke Jan. 13 that two SEALs went missing Jan. 11 after a mission to seize a sailboat — called a dhow — loaded with parts for Iranian medium-range ballistic missiles went wrong. Since the incident, officials had been searching for the two SEALs for 10 days. CENTCOM has stated in a press release, however, that while they have not located the bodies, their status has now been “changed to deceased.”
This was not a training accident, but an operational one. One of the SEALs was knocked off a boarding ladder of an illicit dhow carrying Iranian advanced conventional weapons and his swim buddy went into the water to save him. Neither has ever been seen again.
Not all deaths come at the point of a gun, as was the case here. Training, operational, and a myriad of other things have caused untold numbers of deaths to military members over the years, but ANY death on active duty takes a father, son, brother, mother, sister, daughter away from not only the immediate family, but the military family.
My prayers go out to the families of these men, the Team, and all that knew them.
May they rest in peace, knowing others have assumed the watch.